Null and Void
by band'o-jets
Summary: There are no lucky breaks for the souls who cannot die. A repeating reincarnate enlists the help of a guardian who might help her come to realize that life is worth the tragedies if you have someone to help share the burden.
1. Spilt Coffee

**Null and Void**

**Ch. 1 Reversal**

**null** [nʌl]

_adj_

**1.** without value or consequence; useless

**2.** lacking distinction; characterless; _a null expression_

**3.** nonexistent; amounting to nothing

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><p>Listless and rendered comatose from the thirteen hours of driving, Kagome awoke to the faint sound of radio talk show hosts and the constant grinding of gravel and rubber tires.<p>

Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, a cold chill of the air conditioning found its way down her arms and she shivered.

"Here, Kagome. Put your sweater on."

She rolled her eyes but accepted the periwinkle knitted sweater eagerly. "If you'd turned the ac down I wouldn't need this dad."

Masaaki Higurashi smiled but said nothing as he sipped his morning cup of coffee.

"Impossible, I have to have my morning coffee, you know that. And I'd overheat if I didn't have something to cool me down afterwards. Ah, the wonders of air conditioning."

She frowned lightly at his silliness. "Why coffee? It stains your teeth you know."

"But I'd **die** without it." he said jokingly.

She shrugged her shoulders and stretched out her arms, leaning back against the leather seat interior of the car. "Then I'd inherit your car! Good idea right?"

She smiled and stole the cup from her father, sipped the coffee, and then rejected the bitter taste.

"You know, eventually you'll have to grow up and learn to enjoy the taste of both coffee and adulthood Kagome, it's a bitter fate. I bet you can't wait!"

Mr. Higurashi tousled his daughter's hair in an affectionate way as he returned his focus to the gps and map he held in his lap.

"Oh please dad, not before you grow up first! Stop with the jokes, they're not funny."

As Kagome left her father to study the map intensely, eyebrows furrowed, she stared at the endless fields of grass and felt the drop of her stomach and the pang of homesickness that had found her when she was in school.

"Hey… dad?" She peered towards her father who was concentrating on the roads.

"I was thinking about attending Shikon University next year, you know… instead of having to spend the year away from you guys at Tama."

As if surprised, Mr. Higurashi pursed his lips disapprovingly, "after all that fuss you made about how Tama University would be the best decision for you?" He snickered, "I knew it from the beginning, you're still a child at heart. You can't handle the adult world."

"No it's not! That's not it!" Kagome raised her voice exasperatedly. _Well, almost._

"I miss you, and Souta and mama too."

Warmth. Happiness. "I miss you too Kago."

* * *

><p>And then.<p>

Screams of pain.

Brilliant lights flooded her eyes and her limp body was tossed forwards in a violent reaction. The blaring of car horns and the screeching of tires flooded the air with a cold, instant fear.

It all happened too fast for anything to be done.

The sounds of glass shattering into a million pieces, the strong pull of the seat belt around her chest, and a hot splash of thick liquid hit her face before Kagome could yell out.

The van went tumbling through the air like a baby bird falling out of its nest. So helpless. The earth reshaping the vehicle each time it bounced against the unforgiving ground.

Till, silence… and the only sound to be heard was the steaming of the engines.

The air had been forced out of her lungs and Kagome was again left comatose, her body unable to move of its own accord. Finally, breathing heavily, she urged some life into her arms. Lifting her shaking hand towards her face she smelt the acrid stench of blood, _everywhere_.

She struggled against the seatbelt and her body's paralysis, "d-dad...?"

Blurry vision clouded her mind, as the last image imbedded in her memory was the silhouette of a body in the headlights.

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><p><strong>OOC: So tell me what you guys think! I'm hoping to stick with this story and continue it till the end. <strong>


	2. Numb

Ch. 2 Numb

The earth was damp, and the smell of mold and soil mixed together in an unpleasant odor that would stir anyone out of a dead sleep.

Kagome fumbled for her senses, vaguely aware that everything about this place felt like the Higurashi shrine. Like Grandpa. _What happened? Did I fall down the well or something?_ The cold, clammy feeling of death clung to her clothes as she peered around.

Everything was dark around her and it resembled a twilight zone, but the beacon of light from above assured her that **maybe** she had fallen down the well and had not entered a new dimension.

Until…

Sight, sound, smell and touch faded. Something was tearing away at the familiar and close and the darkness she had become accustomed to. All erased… like a vacuum, sucking the air out of a tense room.

White. Endless. Nothing.

It was too bright to open her eyes and Kagome shielded herself from this dazzling daylight that had brought her out of the shadows. _What is this place? What's going on? Where am I? _She stumbled around aimlessly, hoping for a clue.

"Hello! Is anybody there?"

And then she lost her footing. Her body was not ready for movement as clumsy as this, so like a tree timbering towards the ground she fell. Falling down. Falling until she hit something that wrapped around her like a warm embrace, fear and weakness driven out by this figure.

She squinted, her body too tired to move or to push away from whatever was holding her close. Beautiful silver hair framed a face too blurry to recognize, and the smell of pinewood overwhelmed her senses.

_Is that…? Ears? _

She passed out.

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><p>The single lined beep called the Higurashi family into attention as they scrambled to call the doctors in. The pulse had gone dead and life was leaving the body.<p>

"Her heart just stopped, I need a crash cart in here stat."

"Is she going to be alright? What happened?" Kagome's swollen eyed mother pushed past the doctors, frightened and senseless.

"I need her out of here now, I'm sorry Mrs. Higurashi but you're going to have to wait outside." The nurse hustled the mother outside towards the waiting room as the cart arrived and nurses and doctors rushed towards the lifeless body on the cot. Mrs. Higurashi stood dead on her feet as she watched the scene unfold before her eyes.

"Please, god, please don't let her die." She shook violently and ran towards the bathrooms, sick.

But perhaps she was not as frightened as little Souta was, trembling from afar watching his sister's body jolt from the electricity of the defibrillators.

Her body shook with the paddles burning into her chest and it looked like something out of a scary movie. He couldn't handle it.

With fear Souta ran towards the glass walls separating him and his sister. "What are you doing to her? Leave my sister alone!" Tears ran down his face as leftover nurses struggled to disconnect Souta from the glass.

"Kagome!"

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><p>Jumbled voices entered her subconscious as Kagome regained the strength to eavesdrop on two particular beings nearby her.<p>

"What would you know you old hag?"

"Much more than yourself, respect ye elders Inuyasha. There is more to this assignment than just your chance to earn ye wings."

"I didn't say I wouldn't take it, jeez. Why do I have to be stuck with the pity cases?"

"Do ye really think that this be a pity case? I find that you grow more with perspective and less with stupidity. Did ye not notice? Or not find it funny that she much resembles Kik-…"

"Don't talk about her to me!"

A boy with a red hakama, about Kagome's age, and an older lady with similar dressings took form in Kagome's eyes, both faced towards each other in confrontational body postures. _Wha…? What… is this?_

The man was obviously a child, refusing favors left and right and becoming aggressive when his own opinions and orders weren't followed. But other than a ridiculously immature attitude, his flowing silver hair and untrimmed nails clenched into fists proved a little peculiar. And handsome.

Then she saw them.

A pair of adorable dog-ears rested upon his head, hidden and laying flat because of his displeasure. _Is it Halloween? What is this?_

"Hey you!" Kagome stood up, waiting for either the man or woman to state their business. "Hey I'm talking to you! What am I doing here?"

"Oh damn, she awake now. Good one Kaede."

"T'was not my voice that awoke her. Perhaps your incessant yelling."

"Sure, like I was doing any yelling."

Vexed already because of her exclusion from the conversation, Kagome ran at the man, tackling him in surprise and rubbing his ears to determine genuineness. The fluffy ears twitched in response, a low grumble in the throat of the man startled Kagome.

"What the hell is this? Get off you wench." She narrowed her eyes accordingly. Pushing him hard against the ground to gain leverage.

_Weird… they felt so real…._

"I don't know what you've got to be angry when I've got every right. Where have you taken me dog-boy? Is this some sort of ransom? My parents won't be happy you know."

Silence from both parties. The old lady stepped forwards first "Kagome, do ye not remember what happened?"

"What are you talking about?"

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><p>Souta trembled in his mother's arms as she knelt, rubbing circles into his back to soothe his fears. "Shhh, Souta it's alright. Kagome will be fine. They had to try and fix her heart. You know you shouldn't have been there. What was Grandpa doing?"<p>

She questioned her father's actions as he had been told to watch over Souta.

"Gramps hasn't moved from that chair since this morning mom." He shook his head and rubbed tears away using his sleeve. Burying his face into his mother's shoulder, his little body shook. "Mom, what about dad? Will dad be okay too?"

Mrs. Higurashi closed her eyes and hesitated, Grandpa touching her shoulders lightly to acknowledge his presence. Hugging her son closer to her was either out of protection or the need for someone to soothe her pain as well.

"He's in a better place Souta."

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><p>"You're dead you dumb girl. Or at least you were." The boy sneered, glared coldly and then pouted, resembling a stubborn puppy. A quick sniff in her direction caused a sour look to cross his face. "God, you even smell like her."<p>

"What are you talking about?" Kagome crossed her arms; unhappy with the response and the way it had been delivered, she continued. "Do you really expect me to believe that far-fetched story? Please."

"Look Inuyasha, we do not have much time before it becomes impossible for her to enter her body again. You must go." The old lady turned to face Kagome, "I'm sorry child, but there isn't enough time to explain. Ye are getting another chance to live, which is all that matters.

In the meantime, Inuyasha will accompany your vessel."

A touch to the forehead from the old woman proved to be a powerful blow as both Kagome and the boy were dragged through a speeding tunnel of images that Kagome recognized from her life. It was like a lifetime movie about her childhood, fast-forwarded to make her sick to her stomach.

And there was nothing in it that was worth watching.

The impact and force of the tunnel caused Kagome to scramble for a breathe of oxygen, like a newborn infant or a whale breaching after a long period of time. That first breath was new and wonderful and rushed an awakening to her brain, and to the machine connected to her body.

"Kagome? Kagome?"

Groggy once more, Kagome's eyes fluttered open and her long eyelashes flicked the tears she had cried as she awoke to mom, Souta and gramps throwing themselves on their bed in a fit of happiness.

"Mom? Gramps? Souta? What happened? Why am I in the hospital?"

There were just relieved smiles and tears on every face. Except one.

"Mom…? Where's Dad?"

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><p><strong>OOC: So here's the second chapter. Here's to the introduction of Inuyasha!<strong>


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